{"id":4777,"date":"2019-08-10T00:01:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T05:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jfbelievers.com\/?p=4777"},"modified":"2019-08-10T00:01:54","modified_gmt":"2019-08-10T05:01:54","slug":"dying-privately-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/10\/dying-privately-2\/","title":{"rendered":"DYING FOR PRIVACY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Privacy Kills<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere between four & five thousand healthy American\u2019s die annually from choking on food, which means it kills more people than accidental shootings or airplane accidents. It\u2019s number four on the National Safety Council\u2019s list of death caused by \u201cunintentional injury\u201d. Somebody chokes to death every 2 hours, and over 95% of them will die in a safe & comfortable environment: At<\/em> home<\/em>. Statistics show that more people die from choking than die in fires. These statistics, however, as true they are, can be misleading.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s common knowledge in the medical world that many choking deaths could\u2019ve been prevented if only the individual hadn\u2019t been so afraid of public humiliation. Out of sheer embarrassment, choking victims are known to silently excuse themselves from their company, calmly walk from the dinner table to the bathroom, lock themselves inside, and die privately. Ask any paramedic and you\u2019ll find that the real cause of death in many of these cases wasn\u2019t choking at all, it was too much<\/em> dignity<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choking at Church<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The House of God is no stranger to dangerous levels of dignity. People can get comfortable over time in an environment like ours. They start feeling \u201cat home\u201d in their position, not realizing that home<\/em> is the most dangerous place to be in regard to choking. Complacency sets in, and once it does, they grow a little too over-confident & self-permissive; they start to indulge in questionable attitudes & practices. Pretty soon they\u2019re stuffing more unholy thoughts, desires, and behaviors into their life than their soul is able to swallow. Everything seems alright until they\u2019re unexpectedly seized by an abnormally large portion of sin that they aren\u2019t able to spit out. Not wanting to draw any attention to themselves, they do what they can to hide the truth of the situation. And more dangerous than the actual choking, they impulsively conceal their panic behind a calm demeanor and pretend to be fine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The House of God is no stranger to dignity…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the church culture, this lethal form of dignity is better known as \u2018pride\u2019. Pride is refusing to concede that something has gone wrong at all. It\u2019s not<\/em> asking for help when you need it the most, for fear of the imagined social repercussions. It\u2019s defending your integrity to your own detriment. When sin lodges itself in your heart and cuts off your life-giving supply of the Spirit, pride is what keeps you acting like everything\u2019s normal. You might be dying, but pride doesn\u2019t care. Rather than seeking help, pride steers you to the bathroom where you can try and save your own life, all by yourself, in private. And once that happens, you\u2019re in greater danger than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swallow Your Pride<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is a calculated maneuver which has proven effective time & time again in rescuing a person from airway obstruction. It\u2019s a technique that can be used by anybody, amateurs and professionals alike. It has saved lives every day (over 100,000 in fact) since its initiation in 1974. The dilemma, however, for those with too much dignity, is that it requires the help of another person. And that\u2019s exactly what victims of pride try to avoid. Nothing scares them as badly as needing help from someone else. In some cases, it appears, death is preferred over accepting rescue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Nothing less than full surrender…can liberate a person from pride<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There is likewise a cure for pride<\/em>, but like its medical counterpart, it\u2019s stubbornly avoided by those who need it most. The Biblical practices of confession, repentance, and seeking forgiveness are some of the most sidestepped activities among pride-choked Christians. Some would rather die than to go through the inevitable shame associated with a procedure like that. They might try to put everyone at ease by making a forced<\/em> confession (without really owning it), repenting outwardly<\/em> (but not inwardly), and asking<\/em> for forgiveness (before they\u2019re even really convinced of their wrong), only to realize, you cannot dislodge pride with minimal effort<\/em>. The issue is still an issue, and you still can\u2019t breathe. Nothing less than full surrender to God\u2019s instruction in a life & death situation like this can liberate a person from pride. Many victims have realized the truth of this just a little too late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unwanted Publicity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it\u2019s the nature of the rescue procedure itself. It hurts!<\/em> The cure for choking is aggressive to say the least. The victim is usually pounded<\/em> in the back, slapped<\/em>, punched<\/em>, and when that doesn\u2019t work, squeezed<\/em> until they hopefully spit up. Ribs are sometimes broken. The whole process is invasive & demeaning. It\u2019s confrontational, and, worst of all, it\u2019s usually public<\/em>. If only choking were between me and you alone, but it rarely is. Choking never checks to see whether you\u2019re dining alone, or if the restaurant is packed, with a line out the door. And pride is no different. Pride doesn\u2019t care if people are watching. In most cases, it waits until they are<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No One Here Doesn\u2019t Choke<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

All of us will choke, but only some of us will die. It\nshould go without saying, but there\u2019s nothing dignified about being found, dead\n& alone, on the proverbial bathroom floor with a throat full of pride. You\nhaven\u2019t protected yourself from embarrassment by hiding your issues from us,\nyou\u2019ve only secured it for yourself by refusing our help. Godly people don\u2019t reject<\/em> help\u2026Godly people pray<\/em> for it. \u201cIf they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don\u2019t let me refuse it<\/em>\u201d\n(Ps.141:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes it\u2019s comforting to know that the one who\u2019s helping you, has himself needed help from others at one time or another. We all have pride, and we all choke on it sooner or later. If you have reason to be ashamed of yourself, please understand, we all do<\/em>! We\u2019ve all<\/em> felt that embarrassment, and we\u2019ve all<\/em> been tempted to ignore the truth of our situation. No one looks forward to the Biblical rescue process, because the techniques that save our life hurt every time. But we\u2019ve all felt that pain, and we probably will again. So you are not alone.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

All of us will choke, but only some of us will die<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How many of our friends, who share space with us at the Lord\u2019s Table, are choking on their dignity right now? How many are pretending that they\u2019ve swallowed their pride when they\u2019re still not able to enjoy the fresh air of Christian fellowship? Don\u2019t avoid help because it hurts, & don\u2019t reject it because it offends. If you do that, you\u2019ll die on the floor. And we\u2019ll all know the real reason why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Privacy Kills Somewhere between four & five thousand healthy American\u2019s die annually from choking on food, which means it kills more people than accidental shootings or airplane accidents. It\u2019s number four on the National Safety Council\u2019s list of death caused by \u201cunintentional injury\u201d. Somebody chokes to death every 2 hours, and over 95% of them … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}